One extremely common mistake that online store owners make is to think that their target audience is EVERYBODY.

If you are targeting everyone, you are getting no one. Trust me on this!

You mentioned that your online store has 32 categories and 380 products. But seriously, who is likely to buy a dog training ebook from your online store? Someone who wants to train his dog or someone who wants to buy the Master Resale Rights of that ebook?

You do not write an ad for the whole shop, single category or a particular product. Instead, you need to write an ad to target internet marketers looking for MRR and PLR products.

What is the Unique Selling Preposition of your website?

Before you start to advertise your online store, you must establish a Unique Selling Preposition (USP) for your website.

Basically, you need to ask yourself, “What’s so special about your website? Why would someone bother to pay attention to it?”

Without a refreshing and attention-grabbing USP, your online store is just another online store started by a newbie who simply install a script and load some products into it. And if I’m a visitor to such an online store, guess what I will say: “DON’T WASTE MY TIME!!”

When deciding on a USP, you need to know what is REALLY a USP. For example, a website selling MRR and PLR products is not a USP. But a website selling such products at $0.99 each may be a USP.

Just to give you some idea, a good USP will make people say: “wow, that’s a great!”.

With that, let me answer your second question:

Forget about the 32 categories and over 380 products in your online stores. You should concentrate your advertising effort is delivering the USP of your online store. You need to tell me people “hey, I’m different. Take a look at me!”

How to get people to opt-in?

I probably repeat this a hundred times, but I still need to say this again… build a list!

This is especially true if you are running an online store.

Look, you may be selling hundred and one things in your online store that people have no need at the moment. But one day, they may need one of your products.

What’s the best way to make them remember you when they need your product or service?

2 answers: Either you keep on spending money to advertise in front of them or get them into your list so that you can remind them of your existence, for free.

Which way do you prefer? The second way of course!

How to get them to opt-in is another challenge. But first, you must make list building your top priority and make sure every visitor is presented with the opt-in offer.

This post has come at the right time for me.
I’m just in the process of setting up an estore.
My problem was deciding on whether to have a general eproduct store or just a one niche theme.
The store will be used to get optins by offering free products.
My thoughts have crystallized.

Thanks for the excellent question submitted to you and even more thanks for your take on the situation.

Simply too huge, your answers! That makes 5, 6 times that I reread this posts which I will still reread. I am going to try to set up your relevant advice by knowing that it will not be simple. It is really generous from your part to take your time to study my online store and to draft these so useful tips.

Kenneth, thank you for the guidance on marketing an online store. I have 2 of them that I’ve never put much time into, since my other sites are reasonably productive for me. Soon I’ll be concentrating on the stores, and your advice is a good starting point for me. Thanks again.
Don

Nice post, Kenneth. In fact, this online stores are very problematic for me precisely because of the great amount of categories and products to sell. It’s like the overload information; you don’t now what to do or where to start off from. So, your post is very illustrative. Thank you.

Do you know what really attracts your followers? Your direct answer approach. You tackled the question well and provided excellent views. Also you didn’t suggest to buy this or buy that which most gurus would.

Most of us newbies who just ventured into internet marketing only see our views but seldom put our shoes in the eyes of the customers. You’ve put up a good point…..See it in the customer’s perspective not in our perspective. Thanks again for the USP concept….a very refreshing idea.

I purchased niche blueprint to try to set up my own goods site through dropshipping. but i was so overwhelmed that I asked for a refund and abandoned that opportunity. It’s true that as noobs we tend to think that our target market is everyone and thats what causes us to fail.

I’m so glad you brought that up. Working with drop shippers and updating physical products and running your marketing campaigns is more than a full time job. It takes a lot of dedication and NEVER giving up! Oh yeah learning from your many mistakes even with a mentor!!

Good point about list building, but for me initially i would concentrate on just looking for one or two products that don’t have the same level of competition in the search engines,run some search queries and check out the competition.

(PPC)do your research and target long key words, you are much more likely to get sales through this method, also target the Adsense Content Network and combine your Adsense account with your Analytics to drill down your target demographic.

Only over time will you build up USP, it takes time for people to know you and you can only do this if you get active on the forums and social networks.

Hi Bill,
I think your definition of USP is Branding. My definition of USP is simply something that make you stand out from the rest. It may change from ad to ad. As far as advertising is concerned, USP is important from day one, especially in every ad you post. When visitors come to your website or see your ad, if you can’t make them immediately see that you are different from the rest, you are likely to lose the traffic.

I agree with your tips about How to get people to opt-in because we may be selling hundred and one things in our online store that people have no need at the moment But one day, they may need one of our products.

The best way to make them remember us when they need ourr product or service is to get them into our list so that we can remind them of our existence. We can use this service from Aweber, Getresponse or Icontact etc.

Enjoyed your answer to Emilie’s question. I looked at her webpage. I may be blind but her graphics are too small and what she had written in the blocks where the graphics are didn’t make sense to me. Maybe I’m not only blind, maybe I’m dumb also.

There are thousands of without charge promotion places for online stores. I promote my production 200 times three times a week for free of charge. There are so lots of free yahoo groups that you be able to join and they are now for promotion.